One of my favorite museum shows I've seen this year, easily.“The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs” opened at The Huntington onMay 22 and continues through Sept. 6 in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery.

chair, 1929

Charles Rohlfs (1853–1936) stands among the leaders of the nation’s first foray into modernist design, along with Frank Lloyd Wright and Gustav Stickley. However, the multiplicity of his sources —which include influences from British Arts and Crafts, French Art Nouveau, and East Asian furniture, among other design traditions—makes the work difficult to categorize and has kept Rohlfs on the periphery of scholarship that has focused on more easily defined turn-of-the-century styles.

The exhibition surveys his extraordinary furniture and decorative objects through 44 examples, including pieces made by the artist for his own home as well as major commissioned works. Bringing together masterpieces culled from the collections of 10 museums and several private collections, the exhibition and accompanying book reflect new scholarship based on the Rohlfs family archives and recently discovered primary source material.

Charles Rohlfs' living room, 156 Park Street.Photograph ca. 1922.

Rohlfs was the son of a cabinetmaker in Brooklyn and trained in design at the Cooper Union in New York City. In 1884, he married the popular novelist Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935), who is now credited as a collaborator in the artist’s work and contributor to the design of some of the motifs he carved into his furniture. Green was an extremely successful mystery writer whose work is represented in The Huntington’s library holdings.

David John is co-founder of DISC Interiors in Los Angeles. This is his personal journal, a collection of conversations with friends, makers, and artists, as well as his photographs. You Have Been Here Sometime. Feel free to contact:david ( at ) discinteriors.com